The Huskies fell for the second time this season to the Utah Utes. This time, a 70-58, defeat in front of the 8,170 in attendance at Alaska Airlines Arena.
It was an important game for Washington coming off back-to-back road losses at Oregon and at Oregon State. With talk around town of a possible NCAA Tournament bid, this felt like a must win game.
“We’re playing like we know we have more games to play,” junior point guard David Crisp said after the game.”We need to play every game like it’s our last game. That needs to be effort for 40 straight minutes.”
After a back and fourth first half, the Huskies closed the final 5:10 of the first half on a 12-1 run that propelled them to a 32-24 lead. Washington held the Utes at that point to 9-33 shooting and 3-16 from the 3-point range.
The second half was a complete disaster for the Huskies. After Utah missed their first two field goal attempts to start the half, the Utes would catch their stride. Utah went on a 19-2 run quickly erasing UW’s halftime lead, to take a 45-38 lead with 12:10 remaining. The run was too much for the Huskies to overcome.
Washington’s main weakness this year has been going through scoring droughts. And once again it came back to haunt UW. The Huskies scored just 26 points in the second half. Washington made just 11-30 shots in the second half and only had three assists in the final 20 minutes of play.
After a great performance defensively in the first half, UW’s zone faltered in the second half. The Utes made 14-20 field goal attempts and 4-6 three-pointers in the second half.
Noah Dickerson struggled to get anything going in the loss. Dickerson battled foul trouble all night and fouled out with 3:25 to play. The junior finished 1-6 shooting from the field, with a season low, three points.
David Crisp was the only Husky to finish with double-digit points. Crisp scored 18 points on the night.
The loss for the Huskies really puts them in a tough position. With a strong finish to the season UW can still play their way into the NCAA Tournament. But their margin for error is very thin. UW has now lost three in-a-row after sweeping the Arizona schools at home.
“We got five games left, it’s not the end of the world,” Coach Mike Hopkins said after the loss.”We got 17 wins. We got three more at home, two on the road. And we get a chance to play in the Pac-12 Tournament. A lot of basketball left.”
Washington falls to 17-9 on the season and 7-6 in conference play. Utah improves to 16-9 on the season and 8-6 in conference play.
The Huskies next host Colorado Saturday night at 5 p.m.
